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Thursday, 26 February 2015

What do you want? Information. You won't get it? By hook or by crook, you will. Luckily, we have all the information you could ever need, in our growing village of international celebrity. No need for incarceration and torture.

David Hasselhoff (Towering Ham Man)

Heroic Hasselhoff. (Andy Brain)

The Hoff is on your world television, idolised by men and women alike. But who is this Hoff? Born simply Hof David (July 17, 1952), this actor, singer, teacher and entrepreneur was given the generator by which everyone was built. He used it well. A horse and its own rider, he was, from 1980, as famous as the United States.

At college he learned to turn on the camera and think big. Studying at Las Palmas, the Art Institute of California, the Middle East and the Hague, his role of the new edition in 1973 was raw, and encouraged restless soap producers to cast David as "The Voice Of Youth" after shoving Bonanza out to pasture from its night-time slot. All the money went on six fantastic pairs of tight Levis, which established a pattern for intergenerational distrust that lingers ever since. After a poll of girlfriends, the alias Hoffman Hessel was created. In fact, the phonetic name game "Hesseruhof?" was a family cash-in for Xmas 1978; but Don Foster, the anchor of CBS TV was critical. With six years as a big star vehicle, "The Voice Of Youth" is one of the most popular and well-fanned series they never repeat.

Happy Hasselhoff. (Andy Brain)

His "The Baywatch" opus, from which came sequel "Knight Tyme", grew out of David's eager fascination with the novels of Jane Austen. Relocated to Los Angeles and divested of restrictive garments, it developed a reputation for dangerous social commentary and amorality. "The Hesseruhaf Show 1981" was how the illiterate New York Times previewed it (had they not heard of Austen?). Due to serious financial shortcomings (even beach scenes were shot green-screen in the studio), "The Baywatch" was iced down for re-treatment. But David's strong thrust was barely halfway forward.

Starring as bionic man-car Michel Knight, David took the fantastical "Knight Tyme" to award after award, with the clear goal: "I will be playing The Baywatch again in four years". Production company Huofa Hessel were silent. Toy manufacturers rejoiced.

"Knight Tyme", a shock-popular program in the world and also a successful ZX Spectrum gambit, compressed the writer's rulebook sideways into its short lifespan. Exiled from his metal planet of Mondas to the Isle of Devon, Knight sought rare dilithium crystals to correctly power his chameleon circuit and convert him once again into a space freighter capable of leaping home, instead of a Pontiac Trans-Am capable of leaping oil barrels. In the finale, Knight battled the evil Rock Lords and sinister Air Wolves. A thousand schoolyards were insufferable with pretend car-robots.

Hollering Hasselhoff. (Andy Brain)

Side-stepping in the showbiz world, David was now often seen with guitar in hand and low-slung rock-star jeans. "As you can see, I am the writer and the music". Germany was impressed. The young Jack White sent songs to David to refine. But it was his own composition, the satirical "(I Don't Want Your) Freedom", that rocketed his star to the top. He was the vision of joy. Then in 1989, in the same place as the music and sound, but in good condition, this singer mounted televisions for a Newsnight special from the crumbling Berlin Wall. If only Nixon could go to China, only the Hoff could go to Berlin. "Hesseruhaf! Deutsche Hesseruhaf!" screamed the audience rendering anchorman Peter Snow inaudible. Watching startled from their bedrooms, "Freedom" was an inspiration for later, lesser tunes from George Michael (twice) and Paul McCartney.

Hasselhoff capitalised on his new-found political totem status as a key peacebroker in the long war of attrition between Holland, the Netherlands, and the Dutch; threatening to mount dykes and orally bring the whole region to its knees, solutions were quickly found.

Nudist Hasselhoff. (Andy Brain)

Emboldened by European love, Hof David truly became David Hasselhoff once the 1990s were safely overground. "The Baywatch" was revived as a vanity project. But what vanity! Now they used real beaches! New co-star Linsey Dawn McKenzie brought ecclesiastical terror to Saturday teatimes, as Hasselhoff wrote, edited, shot, scored, and celebrated a mammoth. Episodes like SM-shocker "Barbed Fantasy", the metaphysical "Rocks... And?", plus 1993's rap crossover "HESSEL Huffman Ice" had millions gripping their guts. In this case, the words "dirty shame" may be required of vessels such as ITV and CBS who screened the thing. Clap-o-meters rated "The Baywatch" and sales of Vaseline rocketed.

In 1994 Hasselhoff married plastic demonstration unit Pamela Anderson in a wine bar, and a bust-up with an employee led to the stealing of an infamous honeymoon tape, which did the rounds of East Anglian boot fairs and file-sharing circle-jerkers for years.

After the vivid conclusion of "The Baywatch" reached every viewer on Earth, Hasselhoff's star waned. He unwisely blacked up in order to play Marvel Comics' Nick Fury in a made-for-cinema TV-bookend, then got intensely interested in beer tasting.

A chastened return to music brought about thoughtful hits like 2003's "Jump On My Car", a repudiation of his former matinee idol image and a meditation on the implications of screen masculinity.

Suited Hasselhoff. (Andy Brain)

Recently, there has been ability to access the Hasselhoff. Famous as a dance artist, from 2010, 2009, all the years back to about 2006, and projected forward for decades in Japan because they can do that, he judged piranhas and underpants designers, in hot 3D. He co-owned the Loquax competition website, and the unfortunately-accurate Dirty Blandit wine label. Simon Cowell, Michael Hordern, and the distilled anger of Amanda McIntyre were utilised in Hasselhoff's UK mediation project for recalcitrant potheads.

Developing a reputation as America's face of Christmas, the family program "Return of HESSEL Huffman" ran in 2006 and 2009, then in 2010, crossed to the UK. Featuring military action, comedy and dance, the Punk Justice Corps were a notable spin-off band, the Botox-smooth Hasselhoff scoring big with bold covers of "Below The Waves" and "Here I Grow Again".

The media drinks a lot of alcohol, especially tabloid journalists. Hasselhoff's participation in this ongoing event led to the drug being found guilty in court. Alcohol was banned from the UK in 2012. We can all be grateful.

From a Q&A with the Grauniad in 2013:

- G: Very happy?
- DH: If you do this gentleman.
- G: In "this" there is a great fear.
- DH: It does not work, and can not, for this life.
- G: What is power?
- DH: The hypnotized; the island.
- G: What makes you happy?
- DH: I'm learning Latin.
- G: You prefer hot climates nowadays?
- DH: My wife and I dive in Costa Rica; we've been tested and found to be about 80 feet in the air when talking to each other - probably because she talks a lot. We are forced to use the air breathed by sharks, but I'm beautiful.
- G: Tell me a joke?
- DH: There was the Dalai Lama and a hot dog. He said "Okay."

What does the future hold? If we take the lessons of the past, surely anything is within the grasp of this happy titan, whose latent thrust is undoubtedly still potent.

Entry text: Adrian DarvellEditor-in-Chief: Winston Obogu

Corrections, omissions, questions? Please leave any COQs in the comments.

Thursday, 19 February 2015

People from far and wide have been studying Johnny's course from the comfort of their own homes. From John O'Groats to John O'End. Ireland too, at only a slight premium. Greece, at a larger premium. Tahiti, at a premium premium. It's the course binders - very chunky. Also the whole "brick sampling" module, that might be toned down for the next reprint.

Thursday, 5 February 2015

The world demands celebrity. The world demands reliable information. We at Beware! have combined the two in a mammoth undertaking - pen portraits of the most celebrated, most influential, most thrilling figures on the world stage. Thousands of them. May it take pride of place on your various shelves. And may your shelves groan thusly.

Gary Numan (Robot Tune Man)

Shadowy Numan. (Andy Brain)

You say synth pop? We say Gary! Also, related materials. Hailing
from the Northern Territories, “Gary” Numan (Billy
Numan, Mar 8, 1958) used uncanny brain hacking skills to define his iconic groove "HittingTheDriveToApply" as the template oftheNewWave. Insome countries, the effectof thesender, dateandunitytokillwaves left the
charts studded with tacks.Inthe
firstAtlantic, starsonbothsidesofNuman were defined. Youngpeople, mainly. His dark Gothicrock,foreignfilms,
icespiders, and enrolment as a
student of biofeedback reflectthedevelopmentofartistsintheindustry. On the other hand,
Numan has90bytestotheleft.
Owner of the first tastelabel in
England, from which he leaked detailsofalternativerock bandsin the dark heating movement, hisadviser and Ilookedatthewebsite; the web being another
of this unsmiling man’s unsung inventions.

Leaning Numan. (Andy Brain)

An inveterate hummer, Numan scaled up as a shy boiler-suited boy (his youth later immortalised by Droog
fantasists Bananarama), and communicated in binary before reluctantly learning English. Angry transcriptions of the Brandenberg Concertos led him
to the guitar, early talent being spotted when he induced a battery of fan comas.The
PipelineArmy was formed in1976before defragmenting into ArtLaserArmy(featuring
Valerie “PageRed”Rael).For Gary, it was always Australia,or maybe new ideasandplastictubes.“Whenyoustarta
careerinthearmy, like Kraftwerk a fewyears later – it always feels like summer”.
Luckily Numan had cricket whites, Testmatch-like, which proved a commercialelectronic stunt and aroused the wrath of PhilipK Dick. Joining in the 1978Punkprogrammetocompletetheraceincreasedick bun gang (as with commercial
lepers RoxyMusic, early Depeche Mode project
Ultra, andthe trio Can),Numan and the Pipeline Army travelled to meet BrianEno and Isaac Asimov in Berlin. This was a notable influenceonDavidBowie (hiding
in the kitchen cribbing into a dictaphone).

Could it be possible that GaryNuman
had constructed, in early1979, an electricpipe"friend" as a way
of avoiding a militarycareer? Golfers and technicians faithfully raised him atoptheUKnumber chart(with B-sides like "Often In The Way", the NME crooned "this albumis a separateGothic Numan park"). Each week Numanannouncedatime of night and Tube station where his band would appear, before retreating in the daylight to build fresh inventions. It was a hot runofsuccessintheUK. But Gary looked over the horizon. Believingthat his new vehicle, whichweighed about 10tons,
was "improving enjoyment of militaryruleintheUnitedStates",
the New Man 10hitairspace in Autumn 1979 - a self-designed multi-wing jet fighter. While Numan's albums were already verybroad, this includedits own roadway, and an avidprivatepilot.
From a starting pointin minus figures, agoodmanyofits statistics are stilllosingmoney. Newmoney.

Amid five hit-shaped holes intheUK's thirdalbum (also Numan's third album!), "I Die: But What Death?" and "Glass Attack" were communication favourites of 1980, withanemphasison reaching number 2; however, they also reachedthetop20of1981. But, wrong-footing everyone, "The Crash of the New Man" was announced. Gary was "injured from too much of the synth". Critics scoffed. In fake hospital clothes, wheelchair-bound, hawking a farewellceremonyforthe electronic game,
Numan gave the world inthe UK the dance fly craze, with fiveof his company's
firstcomplete"Noah Said" jive tunes. But his plane wasn't even broken! Weeks later hewasarrestedinIndia for a lowprice, where it emerged he was trafficking spies for MI5. However, the
talkshadbeencompletelyretired. The AirForcesynth-popthatcanbe lazily associatedwiththe Numan charactercontinued- simple, yes, butin1982, inhismurder, its popularitywasimmediatelyreported to the taxman. 1983's "My Album", with itstitlesong (that didn't have the same title - the clot!) "(In Bed) Secret" was indeed the secret of renewed success, and notably he was about two weeks ahead of David Bowie (the matter confused because Numan's communications often took two-and-a-half weeks to reach the public). The egotistical "I(Sometimes In Voice)" andtheprophetic miners' satire "Strike Fighter" reachedthetop10in Labour areas of the UK; feeling pressured, Numan took to wearing Conservative-issue peaked cap and jackboots.

Just between us, Numan Numan PLC bought Beggars Banquet at the beginningof1985, which was running early in 1984(an overdose,unfortunately, mypartner). Honda and Amstrad were his nervous backers.Mostofthefirst bracketwasreleased. Conceptual suicide-pact "Wet Tech" lost £30,000 and hospitalised four electrocuted producers. "Ruthless Top20" failed to get that far, and a bleached Numan was now obsessed with "playing" metal which he slung around his back yard in the style of Lou "Oliver" Reed. His vocals were all re-routed through a chain of extractor fans. 1989 dropped four years and ran in1985, though now neck-and-knob with Bowie. The now foreign Numan wonagainin1986 butthe IRShadcollected his signatures across America and hauled him into court, allowing Bowie to streak into the lead. Numan Numan was dissolved but, in a pyrrhic victory, Numan IRS emerged in1988, which was only a year early in 1987, yet a whole lap behind the coasting Bowie. Returning to his American home, a reboot of the whole country was discussed but quietly dismissed by new President George H. W. Bush not returning his faxes.
Support came from the Baptist Church of Florida ("Song ofSolomon - DifferentRemix"), but didnot even support his trip back into England, where Bowie mocked Numan's industrial leanings with his new band Tin Machine. "Outlander" from 1992 was released in 1991 - Numan still a lap behind Bowie, but a year ahead of his fans. In anger, the concertfilm "0.01" was distributed as a giveaway video with Space Raiders corn snacks. But hark! A spirit of the past! "Car+ Numan" was a short-lived motoring show commissioned for ITV Night-Time. Gary circuited slip-roads near Brands Hatch, and sang odes to tyre manufacturers. Cancelled after five episodes. It couldn't get worse than this?

Pouting Numan. (Andy Brain)

In the mid-90s, industrial paintcustomers kept hearing "Hitting The DriveToApply" in B&Q suppliers. In a first for chieftechnology
research, the global underground supplied the now paralytic Numan with alargepumpkin, B vitamins, "pot", and a park which he was entrusted to save by covering in sound. Once this became public, the Foo Fighters were desperate to claim Numan as their own. But he was down the lane. MonikaScott
Manson was next to try, and in1997, The Fall Colors and NineInchHole proclaimed to the industry, "we lostNuman" - who was secretly refreshed in adeepdip and purely estimatedbasedonmonitoring.
However, "This Model Is Clean" kept thebestyearsofhiscult, released on Mini-Disc in 2000 and approved in sleeve notes by Bowie!

The fishing industry was an important factor in his returnto Australia to help produce the firstlight of 2001, Nine Inch Hole covering B-side "Dinner"in an abattoir.Transparentmusic groupsincluding Stop and MonikaScottManson led theinfluence around New Zealand, then Sweden; winning the 2002 New/Old Australasian Gothic IndustrialMetal Adulthood Achievement Award, Numan was tearful: "I'm dancingwith the hope thatthe deep fans oscillate.They live, but this year, it's more than life". His Christmas was busy with adopted band Święty Mikołaj Kielbasa allowing space for seasonal circuitry.

Rockin' Numan. (Andy Brain)

The single "Crazy" forced chart successduring2003, reaching13in Australia (later covered by Gnarled Berkeley), and now"Gary, from Australia andPuerto Rico," was how he demanded to be introduced. Running to Glasgow on bionic springs, his remix album "Tetsuo" was produced using a DVD player inserted into his body. In 2008(your 2006), the Alan Wilder-mixedconcentration album"To See The Mouth" included a new character, the "rad husband" Ted Oberheim, who produced artificial skin from sound waves.In 2012, sections of Numan's nervous system were displayed for a retrospective at the Atomium."I know thatwe addedto the car. It dead-weightsmy heartto seeKraftwerk, but Ican still movethings,and I've not much work to do... I lovethis song, when I'm inthe house. With glass Ieliminatedthis guitar,and individual support. Please replyon bass, with legal requirements." Some might mistake him for egotistical: "I wasthe first success;and others stood by." Like so many of his contemporaries, Numan stands alone. "I was the first electronic man and we talkeda lot, soit was cold andweakto me. Try toshowtrust andall themodern body can do.But the oppositionwasthe cause of those guitarsnails, and Jedward.What's more... a flatplate is not always aguitaralbum."

Entry text: Adrian DarvellEditor-in-Chief: Winston Obogu

Corrections, omissions, queries? Please leave any COQs in the comments.

Tuesday, 3 February 2015

Beware! recently caught up with acclaimed poet, wit and raccoon, Limpit Smike. He had a writing pad and a big stack of Parker pens.

Filthy Muck by Limpit Smike

I try but cannot understand

why dirty men have sweaty hands

and filthy pants on cheesy nobs

and rotten feet in mouldy socks

and fatty blobs and saucy globs

down jeans they can't be arsed to wash

They squish their scent on doors and floors

I have to disinfect, of course

It makes me retch and then explode

when filthy beasts come up my road.

Mucky man. (Andy Brain)

B: Hello Limpit.
L: Wargh! Oh! What on Earth are you doing there?
B: There was no answer at the door so we thought we'd try the window.
L: Withdraw your head, I'm composing.
B: Busy, eh?
L: Yes I am as a matter of fact, and so should you be. I've got three poems to finish by lunchtime.
B: A triptych?
L: Bless you.
B: No - are they related thematically?
L: Of course not - that'd be far too hard.
B: A sentiment many of our readers could sympathise with. So would you like to describe -
L: (Writing whilst talking) Look you may have time for poking your bits about, but I don't, okay. I have some bloody fantastic verse to lay down onto this paper -
B: With a rather nice pen.
L: Yes, it's one of my new ones from Sun Life, I applied for a thousand insurance quotes and they sent me a thousand pens. Anyway this is a special book of poems that's going to Uri Geller.

B: A commission?
L: No - a composition. You fool.

Empty bogroll. (Andy Brain)

B: I mean, Uri commissioned you to -
L: You might think that. I might think that. Uri as yet does not know he thinks that. Maybe in some crevice of his magical mindset -
B: So not a commission then.
L: Let's just say, when he receives my meisterwerk sheathed in an exquisite lavender envelope, he'll know he's dealing with a quality artist. Quality will out. Uri screams quality.
B: Can we have a taster?
L: No. Of course you can't. Now bugger off. How many times?
B: Okay. (Leans back out) We'll have to go through your bins then.